A strange thing happened in the fall of 1859 that took the residents of the Honey Lake Valley by surprise—Honey Lake went dry. For the Anglo residents this had never happened before. In addition, in 1856 two people drowned in the lake. This led to all kinds of theories as to how this could have happened.

Personally, I enjoy newspaper writers of the past for their wit. On October 29, 1859, Oroville’s Butte Democrat newspaper entered in the discussion and wrote: “Some of the papers are endeavoring to account for the sudden disappearance of the waters of Honey Lake. One editor suggests that they have sunk into vast fissures of the earth, caused by an earthquake. This theory might be objected to on the ground that if such fissures had been created, water would more probably arise therefrom than descend. Our deliberate opinion, formed after the most mature reflection and consultation of the most learned authorities upon the subject, is, that the waters which constituted what was formerly Honey Lake, have been drunk by the “Guyas Custas.” We shall prepare a paper upon this subject, to be deposited in the archives of some Historical or Geological Society.”

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